International Orthodox Christian News

"Today we can see that there is a positive dialogue with the Roman Catholic Church on a range of pressing issues, especially such issues as the protection of traditional Christian values, the role of religion in social life, the problem of morals and the attitude toward the institution of family," Alexy II told the assembly of Orthodox bishops in Moscow on Tuesday.

Relations between the Moscow Patriarchate and the Catholic Church nonetheless "retain problems requiring a real solution, including the 'issue of missionary activity on the part of Catholics on traditionally Orthodox turf in Russia and other countries,'" he said.

"We would like also to see the long-awaited progress on the issue of the attitude of Greek Catholics to Orthodox believers in the regions of Western Ukraine where the Uniat Church is predominant. Unfortunately, we have not seen positive developments on this issue, and representatives of the canonic Orthodox Church in most cases continue to suffer oppression on the part of Greek Catholics," he said.

Speaking about contacts with the Protestant churches in foreign countries, the patriarch said that the Russian Orthodox Church has retained "stable and good relations" with its "long-time partners" - the Evangelical Church of Germany and the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland, with which the Russian Orthodox Church had a fruitful dialogue in 2005 and 2008.

Source:

http://www.interfax-religion.com/?act=news&div=4838